Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met today in Warsaw with Ukrainian refugees to express his solidarity and denounce Russia’s attack on their country.
In a speech at the Catholic University of Stefan Vishinsky, the Ecumenical Patriarch described as “unthinkable” the disasters caused “by this horrible invasion, to the Ukrainian nation, and to the whole world”.
The Ecumenical Patriarch arrived in Poland on Monday, at the invitation of President Andrzej Duda, with whom he met on Monday. In their conversation, he described the war as “unfair and untenable”.
“All wars are reprehensible, but a war between Orthodox is absolutely unacceptable,” he stressed, visiting an Orthodox church in Warsaw in order to pray for peace while regretting the “crisis of unity” faced by Orthodox Christians.
In Ukraine, the majority of the inhabitants are Orthodox, but they have been divided between those who remain loyal to the Patriarchate of Moscow and those who follow the new Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, whose autocephaly has been recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Russian hierarchy considered this recognition a “schism” and severed all relations with Constantinople. Today its head, Patriarch Kirill, justifies the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Most Orthodox Churches have gradually recognized the autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine, but the Polish Church has not yet taken a stand.
Today, the Ecumenical Patriarch also met with the president of the Catholic Diocese of Poland, Archbishop Stanislav Gandeski.
The latter appealed for “spiritual and universal solidarity with the martyred Ukrainian nation” and denounced “the irrepressible thirst of sovereignty and contempt for human life and dignity that revived the destructive demons of the past”.
Photo: @IakovosKrochak
Source: orthodoxtimes.com
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